


QUARANTINE

by NinesByDawn



Series: Nest Building [20]
Category: Teen Titans (Animated Series)
Genre: Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Slice of Life, does this count as a modern au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-25
Updated: 2020-04-25
Packaged: 2021-03-02 05:28:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,454
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23839864
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NinesByDawn/pseuds/NinesByDawn
Summary: RobRae Week 2020 Day 7 prompt.
Relationships: Dick Grayson/Raven
Series: Nest Building [20]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1655041
Comments: 13
Kudos: 40





	QUARANTINE

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to everyone who tuned in this week! Hopefully we can all get through this time together.

_Day 3_

“I hate being cooped up!” Beast Boy grumbled as he sailed another paper airplane through the space of the main room. “We really can’t go anywhere fun? _Everything’s_ closed?”

“I mean, we still have a small little beach here,” Cyborg said.

“And what am I gonna do there? Half of it is taken up by the training course anyways.”

Raven ignored the commotion in the room, as she was adept at doing, instead browsing on Robin’s laptop. One window was full of tabs from various news sources, while the other contained articles from PubMed. The activities of the team were interrupted by the sound of the door whooshing open, with the sound of purposeful steps getting closer to them.

“So? How’d the meeting go?” Cyborg asked.

“They want us to help enforce order as much as we can,” Robin said as he strode into the center of the room. “Gonna be tough, obviously. But the hope is that since the city as a whole respects us a little more than law enforcement that we can leverage that to make sure people are staying home.”

“Joy,” Raven muttered, getting up to join the circle. “I can’t wait to get assigned to break up frat parties in disgusting basements in the corners of town.”

“What about us, dude?” Beast Boy asked. “Aren’t _we_ putting ourselves at risk by going everywhere there are tons of other people?”

“Yes,” Starfire chimed in. “Will we catch this ‘bug’ you speak of?”

“Well, let’s see,” Robin mused. “I don’t know what it does, if it does anything, to Tamaranians. I can clearly get sick. Cyborg?”

“I’ll have to read up on the symptoms and the virus’s functions,” he replied. “I should be fine since most of the human parts of me are disconnected from each other. But I’ll still take precautions.”

“Beast Boy getting sick probably also comes with unwanted transformation side effects,” Robin chuckled.

“Just stay like a bat forever and you’ll be fine,” Cyborg joked. Beast Boy glared at him.

“Rae?” Robin asked.

“Wait, can’t you heal us anyways?” Beast Boy asked her.

“It works with injuries because I can absorb the pain. I’ve never tried with disease,” she said, shaking her head. “I…should be fine if I get it. But I don’t know how effective, or if it even will work, on anyone else.”

“In any case, I won’t put any one of us at undue risk,” Robin declared. “We’ll respond when we get calls, just like we do with villains. It’s pointless to just patrol for hours on end during a time like this and expose ourselves unnecessarily.”

“Was the city happy about that?” Raven asked sarcastically.

“Of course not. They wanted us on patrol. I told them we could compensate with a gentler approach. Making video messages, or something like that, to add to being on call.”

“Wondrous,” Starfire commented. “I have been dancing on the Tok Tik recently! I shall make many more videos if that is what the city wishes!”

“Just make sure you’re letting people know to stay home, Star,” Robin chuckled.

“Star, get in one of my videos next time!” Beast Boy exclaimed.

“No way! Jump in on mine! I have way more followers than Beast Boy does,” Cyborg interrupted.

“You?! Then how come my biggest video has way more views than any of yours?!”

Raven facepalmed, shaking her head as the bickering started again.

“Don’t touch your face,” Robin said with a smirk. She looked up at him in annoyance. He chuckled, then cleared his throat loudly. The three of them quickly quieted and looked at him. “Anyways, let’s get back on track. I have some plans for what we’re gonna be doing here too to help out. I made these—” he said, pulling out some facemasks from his belt and showing them. Each had a black and red design, with a yellow R embroidered in the corner. “Nothing’s gonna fully prevent air transmission, but I used a few designs I had laying around to make these really secure. If you don’t like the colors, you can ask Raven to knit a design over it. And we’ve also got stores of your basic essentials when you’re out there like gloves and hand sanitizer. In the next few days, I wanna start making all the stuff that’s gonna be needed in hospitals.”

“I’ll handle any of the mechanical stuff,” Cyborg said. “We don’t have that many spare parts laying around, but whatever we make is gonna help.”

“Exactly,” Robin said, nodding his head. “We should still keep inside as much as possible, but let’s try to use up whatever stuff we have laying around and try to make it into something useful."

“This is all great and I agree with it, but you’re forgetting the most important problem,” Beast Boy said.

“What would that be?”

“I’m BORED!” he shouted. “What are we supposed to do when we can’t go outside? There’s only so much Mega Monkeys I can play in a day. It gets so stuffy in here.”

“Nobody’s preventing you from flying around. I don’t know,” Robin said with a shrug.

“Yes, a wonderful idea!” Starfire agreed. “We shall fly high above where the bug cannot catch us!”

“I could use some fresh air,” Beast Boy said. He smiled and they began making their way up the stairs. “You wanna come, Raven?”

“I’m good.”

Beast Boy shrugged, and Starfire and him left for the rooftop.

“Man, I can’t get to the studio now,” Cyborg mumbled, rubbing his head. “I guess I’ll have to start filming from our kitchen. Hopefully y’all don’t mind vacating this space every now and then.”

“Sounds good,” Robin said. Cyborg left for his room and Robin turned to Raven. She began walking back to the couch and he followed along, but her hand pointed back and a claw grew out of it, wrapping around his body and pushing him back. “Rae…what is this?”

“What?” She looked back from the couch at him innocently. “I’m social distancing.”

Robin circled around the couch until he was in front of her, but the energy stuck to his body, preventing him from getting any closer. He pushed against it, trying to close the distance, much to her amusement.

“Raven.”

“Maintaining a six foot distance. Is there a problem?”

He sighed, and rolled his eyes. “Your normal lifestyle _is_ social distancing. You don’t have to do anything special now that it’s what you’re encouraged to do.”

She chuckled. “Yeah, you’re right.” She let go of him and he took his spot on the couch next to her, looking at the laptop screen.

“Doing a lot of research?”

“The more we know, the better,” she replied. “All this stuff we’re about to do is great. But it’d help a lot more too to learn what we know about it so far. Maybe we could help out on the research front as well.”

“I don’t know if we’d be able to study anything here. But it doesn’t hurt to educate yourself, I suppose.”

“In the meantime, how do you plan on spending this time indoors?” she asked, glancing at him. He shrugged.

“Probably not much different than what I was already doing. More emphasis on this crisis, I guess. I’m sure I’ll get bored soon. You probably won’t, will you, Miss Stay Inside and Read?”

“Who knows,” Raven said. “I probably won’t get bored. I do have a lot of books I want to finish. And I suppose—” She snuggled a little closer to him, and let out a light laugh. “I have to give this needy boy some attention as well.”

“That would be welcome,” Robin said, grinning.

* * *

_Day 7_

“I lied. I’m _so_ bored.”

“What happened? You breezed through your entire bookshelf already?” Robin teased as they walked down the hallway.

“I don’t want to read anymore,” Raven grumbled. “As strange as that sounds. Meditate, read, do some knitting. That’s all I do now.”

“But that’s what you always do.”

“Yes, but…”

“It’s different when you’re not allowed to do anything else,” Robin finished for her, as they entered his room.

“Sure.”

“Well, that’s the good thing about keeping busy,” Robin said, as they sat down on his bed. “You never really get to stop and be bored. Although these endless meetings are also boring in their own way.”

“I doubt it’s worse than how I have it. Do you know how bored I’ve become?”

“How bored?” he asked quizzically. She paused and looked at him for a couple of seconds, then averted her gaze.

“I downloaded TikTok.”

Robin stared at her for a moment, squinting his eyes. “You what?”

“And deleted it immediately once I watched one of Beast Boy’s videos.”

The thought had now fully processed in Robin’s mind. He burst out laughing, clutching the side of his head with his hand. Raven folded her arms, keeping her neutral expression.

“Sorry,” he said, in between laughs. “It’s just…the picture…”

“Don’t be. I never pictured myself doing it either. And now I’ve confirmed why.”

“You should get in one of ours,” he urged, now grinning. She raised an eyebrow.

“Robin. Do you…have one too?”

“Uh, yeah,” he said, pulling out his communicator. “I don’t really post that much. It’s mainly just to see what the others are doing. But a lot of the videos are actually pretty entertaining.”

“Fascinating,” she said drily. “But no. I’m not going to be in any of your videos.”

“Just this once. I’ll post for the first time in months, just to have you in it.” He started browsing through the app, searching for a dance to a song that he liked. Raven rolled her eyes, then plopped fully onto the bed, grabbing his laptop to search for more updates. Robin found the spent a few minutes blasting the song and learning the moves. Raven occasionally looked up to roll her eyes, but ignored him otherwise.

“It go right foot up, left foot slide, left foot up, right foot slide,” Robin said to himself. He set the communicator on his table, then started recording. He danced for a few seconds, then snatched the communicator and pointed the camera to Raven. “Talk to ‘em, Rae!”

Raven looked up, glaring at him as the song continued to play. Finally, she sighed. “Stay the fuck home,” she growled, jabbing a finger in the direction of the camera. Robin brought the communicator back to himself and ended the recording, then edited the video and posted it.

“I gotta admit, you didn’t really fit the vibe of what I was going for.”

“You really think so?” she said drily.

“Who knows, maybe it’ll blow up,” Robin said, laughing again. She rolled her eyes again, still browsing the latest updates.

“Our generation is so stupid.”

* * *

_Day 11_

“You can’t castle since you’ve moved that rook already,” Raven said gently. The piece floated back to its original spot.

“Right,” Robin muttered. “Been a while.” He put his hand on his chin, thinking. Finally, he moved a knight deeper into her ranks. Raven tended to take more time with her moves, and he was getting a little paranoid about what she could possibly be planning. Eventually, her strategy became clear, and he was helpless to do anything as her pieces moved in line of his king from all angles. If only he had been able to castle…

“Checkmate.”

Robin sighed. “What is that, three in a row now?”

“Don’t be so down on yourself. You’re getting better,” Raven said, as all the pieces floated back into their starting positions. “Could do you some good to play something you won’t always win at, Boy Blunder.”

“Just because I’m learning doesn’t mean it’s fun to lose repeatedly,” he grumbled.

“Come on. One more, and if I win, then we can drop this and go do something else.”

“And if I somehow win?”

“Your choice,” she said with a shrug. “We can keep playing if you want. I don’t care either way.”

Robin moved a pawn two spaces out, then drifted off for a moment as he waited for Raven to make her opening move. Even in seemingly mundane openings, she took her time. Finally, she moved a knight out in front of her pawns.

“You should really think about what purpose you’re trying to achieve,” she commented. “Every move should be with your overall strategy in mind. I’m sure you can relate.”

“Right. I know that. I just haven’t learned to think in terms of chess yet.” He stroked his chin, trying to concentrate. Even though he had a basic idea of certain strategies, it just always felt like whatever move he made was telegraphing his intentions. On the other hand, each time one of Raven’s pieces advanced further towards him, it felt so innocent. Robin narrowed his eyes, contemplating whether he wanted to start being more aggressive and taking some smaller pieces. Raven felt his anxiety bubbling beneath his exterior, and looked up for a moment. She smiled to herself in mild amusement. It was always enjoyable to observe him in his “work” mode, when he just obsessed over the task at hand to no end. It was undoubtedly unhealthy at times, but amusing in lighter contexts such as the one they were in now.

The game dragged on longer than the others. Raven frowned a little, as he definitely was starting to make headways into her territory, with a couple of pawns, knight, and bishop already gone. She refocused, gazing over the board and observing the positions of his pieces. Formulating a new plan, she moved the black queen out to the edge of the board. Robin hesitated a little, and while her facial expression didn’t change, her mind lit up. He took the bait, and Raven allowed herself a small smirk, before enacting the rest of her plan.

“Checkmate.”

“I should’ve ignored the queen, huh?” Robin realized. “It wasn’t threatening anything important.”

She smiled at him wryly. “Perhaps.”

“Yeah, I’m done,” he sighed.

“You’re learning quick for not having played in so long, though,” Raven commented. “I think you’re getting close.”

“It is nice to be able to pick up new hobbies,” Robin said. “There’s something I wanna show you. I think you’ll enjoy it.”

“What would that be?”

* * *

_Day 12_

The arrow made a _thwack_ sound as it embedded itself in the foam of the target. Soon, several others landed next to it, forming a neat collection in the center. A minute later, they were all gone again as Robin pulled them out one by one, then made his way back to the front of the indoor range in the gym.

“Now try,” Robin said, stepping aside. Raven tentatively stepped up, nocking an arrow in her bow. Robin checked her form as she slowly pulled the string back, shutting one eye and focusing on the target.

“Like this?” she asked, holding the string back with her fingers.

“Dock at the corner of your lip,” Robin instructed, holding up his bow and mirroring her motion. “Or wherever’s comfortable. But for starting out, just try doing it at that spot and see how it works.” Raven glanced over, trying to copy his form as best as possible. She exhaled, and tried to keep the bow steady. It was definitely heavy, even though Robin had picked out a compound bow to help with accuracy. Steadying one last time, she let the string go, and promptly felt a sharp pain in her left arm.

“Ow!” she cried out. The arrow wobbled wildly in the air before scraping past the top of the target and hitting the protective wall behind it. She grimaced, dropping the bow with her left hand and clutching her arm.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. It stings a lot,” Raven said, holding her arm and glaring at the bow. “What happened?”

“Looks like the bowstring probably stung your arm as you let it go,” Robin said, holding her arm out and examining it. “There’s probably a red mark under your sleeve.”

“So how do I _not_ hurt my arm every time I let it go?” she asked. She put her right hand to her left arm, and a pale purple glow began to emanate out of her hand.

“You don’t have to hold the string, or bow for that matter, so close to your face,” Robin chuckled. “The corner of your lip thing is only for reference. Just try to align the whole thing on the same plane. You’ll find your arm bends naturally, which helps you avoid getting stung by the string.”

“Show me, then,” she said, folding her arms. He nodded and stepped in line of the target. Slowly drawing the string back, he pointed out small things about his form, which got nods of acknowledgement from the empath. The arrow flew across the gym again, making another _thwack_ as it buried itself deep in the target. Robin went through his stock of arrows, slowly drawing back each time to let her get more observations in. Once he was done, they traded places again. Raven took a deep breath and tried to remember everything she’d been shown. This time, the arrow flew cleanly, but hit the white part of the target, outside of the ring. She stared at the arrow in annoyance.

“You’re pointing a little too far to the right now,” Robin pointed out. “You can try stepping more this way so you’ll be in line.” She nodded and made the adjustments, then launched some more arrows. They landed all over the place, some hitting the outer edges of the target, one hitting in the middle ring of it, and one landing outside the ring again.

“My arm is getting tired from holding this thing up,” she complained.

“You get used to it. You’re doing good, though.”

“What is the point of this? You’re never going to ask me to bring a bow and arrow to a fight, are you?”

“Of course not,” Robin chuckled. “It’s a hobby. Once you get used to all the details, it’s pretty relaxing.”

“How so?”

“It’s not a game or sport where anyone can rush you,” Robin explained, gazing out towards the target. “It’s just you and that. So in times like that, it helps to be calm so you can hit your shots more accurately. Which you obviously don’t need my help with.”

“Hmm. I see.” Raven nocked the last arrow and pulled back, holding the arrow in place. She focused on the target, beginning to space out everything else around her, even Robin. With her right eye focused on it, she minutely adjusted the bow a few times, pointing the arrow towards the center. She took another breath, and then held there for a moment, making sure every part of her was holding still. Finally, she released the bowstring. The arrow made a loud _thwack_ , hitting the ring in the target just above the bulls-eye.

“Nice shot!” Robin complimented. They walked over and pulled the arrows out, Raven examining the one near the center a little more than the others.

“I suppose it is somewhat peaceful,” Raven remarked. “Just you and the bow.”

“Sure is.” Robin stepped up again, nocking another arrow. “I’ll get another round in, then you can go again and I’ll give you some more pointers.”

“You seem to be good at this whole thing. Are you ready to take on Speedy?”

He fired his arrow, then glanced at her and shook his head. “Never. He would wipe the floor with me in anything relating to archery.”

“The Boy Wonder lacking in confidence? Do I know you?” she teased.

“I’m not lacking anything,” he replied, before releasing the bowstring again. “I’m just acknowledging the facts.”

“What happened to winning above everything else?”

He narrowed his eyes. “I don’t enter things I know I can’t win.” He released another arrow, but this one flew a little off course and hit the target on the bottom side.

“So. You thought you could win against an interdimensional demon, but you don’t think you can win with a bow against a guy who has just been practicing with a bow longer than you have.”

“Pretty much.”

“Sounds like someone just doesn’t want to be on the receiving end of the trash talk to me.” She smirked at him, and he turned his head towards her, lowering his bow.

“I’m better than him at everything else. He can have that,” Robin huffed. She snorted in amusement and put her hands on her hips, watching him shoot the rest of the arrows with just a little less accuracy than before.

* * *

_Day 16_

Robin was headed to the kitchen to indulge in a little late-night snacking when he heard the singing. He already knew who was there just by knowing everyone else’s habits, but it still startled him a bit. The moon, unshielded by clouds, illuminated the middle of the large room. He eyed the blue cloak near the couch, and watched as she moved back and forth, cleaning supplies in hand. The voice was still a little raspy and slightly out of tune, especially with the high notes, but it did sound nice to him.

“Take off, my disguise…”

Robin awkwardly grabbed the peanut butter and jelly and set them in front of him, wanting to make his sandwich but also not wanting to be too loud and interrupt her.

“I’m living, someone else’s life…”

The couch lifted up in the air as she motioned the broom under with one hand, starting to sweep.

“Suppressing, who I was inside…”

Robin set the knife down and stared. It seemed she hadn’t noticed his presence yet. Or maybe she had, and was just ignoring him.

“So I throw two thousand ones in the sky.”

The brushes of the broom grew a little swifter, the _tsk-tsk_ sound unintentionally complementing the melody.

“Together, we’re alone…”

Robin silently crept a little closer. The couch floated back into place, and she flew over to the window.

“Vegas, I feel so at home…”

A couple of quick squirts of the cleaner, then various rags floated onto the glass, scrubbing the panes.

“Falling, only for the night…”

Robin stepped closer still, coming up near the edge of the couch.

“So I throw two thousand ones in the sky.”

Robin cleared his throat. It was the only thing he thought of to do. She turned around and spotted him halfway in the shadows, and smiled a little sheepishly.

“Oh, hey. You came in here pretty quietly.”

“Raven.” He closed the distance between them, and gazed into her violet eyes seriously. She looked at him with slight surprise at his demeanor. “Are you…okay?”

She let out a little laugh. “I’m fine,” she chuckled. “They’re just song lyrics, Robin.” She turned back to the bay, wiping the last of the fluid from the window she was working on.

“Yeah, but…” he said hesitantly. He came up next to her, glancing at her again.

“But?”

“You can relate to them, can’t you?” he said. He gently put a hand on her shoulder, and she turned to look him in the eyes again.

“Yeah.” She folded her arms, and stepped closer to the window, looking out over the sea. “But I’m not alone anymore. Honestly, I haven’t been for a while. It just took me…some time to realize that.” Robin didn’t say anything. He didn’t have to—they both understood. He instead wrapped an arm around her body, gazing out the window as well.

“Does it heal in a way, maybe?”

“Heal what?”

“The pain, maybe,” he surmised. “Maybe it does help sometimes to be able to relate to something. Even if it is something as simple as music.”

“Possibly,” she said, nodding. “I don’t know. The dark just has some innate attraction for me. It’s beautiful in its own way, if you’re able to relate to it.”

“But you’re in a much better place now,” Robin said, holding her a little tighter.

“I am.” They held there for a few more moments. Silence never hung awkwardly in the air between them—it was always a welcome blanket of peace.

“Why are you cleaning this late, anyways?” Robin asked, smiling a bit.

“My mind’s still restless,” she admitted.

“About what?”

“This,” Raven said, gesturing across the bay. “Just…everything outside.”

Robin nodded in understanding. “It’s been bad.”

“It’s going to get worse,” she muttered. “Times like this make you realize just how many idiots we live amongst.”

“I don’t know about that. Perspective is important,” he replied. “Of course we’re gonna have to deal with those types of people. But there are lots of other people doing good things. You just don’t see or hear about them since the bad ones stick out more.”

“Maybe. I just wish we could do something more,” she said, looking at her hands. “I know. It’s too risky. And I’d agree with that. But…that doesn’t mean I don’t feel bad for not trying.”

“We’re doing everything we can. I know. I want to do more too. But we just have to trust the process right now.”

“Yeah.”

“But that doesn’t make it any less tough. I know,” he finished for her. She smiled a little at him, before turning her gaze back to the window.

“It doesn’t.”

* * *

_Day 18_

“Make sure that doesn’t overcook,” Robin instructed, pointing over to the covered pan. Raven lifted the cover off and stirred the veggies a little more, before turning off the heat and putting the cover back on. Robin slid in front of her and checked on everything in the oven through the window, before opening it and taking out the breaded chops to flip them.

“And this?” Raven asked, pointing to the large pot on the other burner.

“Stir that a little more, then we’ll throw in all these cans of stuff and let it cook.”

“It smells pretty good,” she commented, lifting the lid off and stirring the clam chowder.

“It’s pretty easy to make. And it lasts a while too. You could make another pot of it the next time you’re up to cook.”

“Sounds like a plan,” she said. “Easy and lasts a while. That’s how all cooking should be.”

“But sometimes the flavor is worth the effort, Rae,” Robin said, putting the racks back in the oven. “Why do you think they charge so much at those fancy restaurants and give you a small plate of food?”

“Because people are stupid and don’t make stuff like this at home instead,” she uttered sarcastically.

He laughed heartily. “I’ll take you to one of them sometime. For date night.”

“You sure we have enough _money_ to blow on one meal?”

“Trust me, you’ll change your mind once you have a taste.”

“Lovebirds!” Beast Boy called from the couch, as he and Cyborg finished up a round of video games. “When’s dinner gonna be ready? You better be making those tofu sliders nice and flavorful!”

“Still not for a bit,” Robin called back.

“How exactly do we cook this?” Raven asked, holding up the plate with a cube of tofu on it with an expression of slight disgust.

“Maybe you should just wing it. Can’t be that hard, right? Just slice it up and season it, then fry it a little.”

She stared at him blankly. “You’re not serious, are you? You trust _me_ to figure it out?”

“Maybe I am,” he chuckled. “Worst case, it tastes horrible. But considering who you’re feeding it to, does that make you that upset?”

She smirked. “Touché.”

“That TikTok we made blew up, by the way,” he mentioned, checking on the other pans as she started to add the veggies to the chowder.

“What TikTok?”

“You know. The only one you’ve ever been in. The one we made in my room.”

“Oh,” Raven said, remembering now. “Wait…what?”

“Yeah,” Robin chuckled. “I guess you screaming at my followers to ‘stay the fuck home’ fit in nice with the song.”

“Friends!” Starfire exclaimed, scurrying over with Silkie in her arms. “The creations you are making smell most wonderful! What is this broth that is simmering here?”

“It’s clam chowder,” Robin told her, smiling as Raven continued to stir the pot. “Or, as they call it up in the Northeast, chow-da.”

“Chow-da,” Starfire repeated, giggling. Silkie purred a little bit, fidgeting in her grasp.

“Right, Rae? Chow-da.”

She glanced at both of them, then rolled her eyes. “Chowder.”

“It’s more fun to say it the other way. Come on,” he urged.

“Nope. Just be normal and don’t talk in an accent.”

“I look forward to trying this chow-da,” Starfire said. “The color is similar to the stews of my home world…”

Silkie growled, then suddenly leapt out of the alien’s arms and straight into the pot, splashing Raven in the process. The three of them instinctively leapt back a bit, the sudden motion startling them. Raven quickly grabbed a towel and wiped herself off, then glared at the pot in disgust.

“Damn it, Silkie!” she seethed. The pet’s face emerged from the surface of the liquid, looking more content than it had a moment ago.

“Star, get him out of there,” Robin said, sighing.

“Bad Silkie!” Starfire roared, pulling it out and wiping it off. “I have fed you many of the treats already today! You will not ruin the dinner our friends have worked so hard to plan!” She flew off to her room with Silkie in hand.

“Too late for that,” Robin muttered, wiping down the splashes of soup around the burners. Raven held a lock of her hair out, rubbing the residual liquid out of the strands of hair with another paper towel.

“Looks like we’re gonna have to make another chow-da,” she drawled.

* * *

_Day 21_

A breeze blew across the rooftop, chilling the air. The temperature was already cooled by the gray clouds in the sky obstructing the sun, robbing the bay waters of the shine they usually had in the mornings from the sun’s rays reflecting off of them. Raven held her cloak tightly around her, staring out towards the city. She could barely hear any sounds of traffic or commotion now, and this was confirmed visually by the much-emptier streets.

“Hey.” He walked up next to her, looking at her momentarily before folding his arms and also looking in the direction of the city.

“How are things?” she asked after a while.

“In general or with me?”

“With the city.”

“They’re enacting new measures soon. Supplies are coming in, and so is healthcare support,” he said. “They expect the worst is either now or soon, and that it should get better in the coming weeks. Maybe months.”

“Mmm.” She furrowed her brow a bit.

“The others are just as worried, obviously,” Robin continued. “We all are.”

“Of course,” she replied simply. He took her hand, clutching it as the breeze continued to blow around them.

“I know what you mean. We’re doing everything we can, and yet…it still doesn’t feel like enough.”

“Yeah. But…it might be okay to think a little irrationally sometimes. Even when it doesn’t look good.”

Robin smiled at her. “You’d know that better than anyone, wouldn’t you?”

“I’m thinking a little differently than before,” she mused. “I’m still worried. But, now, I feel like…we just need to believe in what we’re doing.”

“We’ve never backed down from a challenge before,” Robin said confidently. “That’s just what we do.”

“I never thought it was gonna be endless amounts of hope that got me here,” Raven reflected, moving closer and putting an arm around his body. “But, now, sometimes I feel like that might be the most impressive power of all.”

“No. The best power is you spreading it to everyone else,” Robin said, turning his head to the side to glance at her. “To me, to us, to everyone in this city. Everyone we’ve helped. And will keep helping, through all of this.” He gestured out towards the bridge, moving his hand across the cityscape. “If we can give all these people just a little more hope in their lives…if we can help them to believe that they will get through this, then I think we’ll have done a good service.”

“You can always articulate it better than I can,” she chuckled.

“You inspire me, you know,” Robin said, leaning his head on her shoulder briefly. She smiled, and closed in on his cheek, kissing him quickly before turning back to the sight in front of them.

“We’ll keep doing what we’re doing. But most importantly, we’ll keep hoping. For everyone else,” she said.

“Always.”


End file.
